research comes first

I'm looking into starting a planted FW tank with crustaceans!

I had no idea the amount of FW crustaceans there are to choose from!
So right now I am in the middle of doing research on them to account for compatibility and the like.

However I am faced with two moves...one at the end of this month and again at the end of May... (long story) So I won't actually be starting until then.
That gives me a few months of down to earth research time.

If any of you guys have done a similar build I would love to hear about it.

 

You could always start your plants (if you are buying pods), or buy the pre-started at the LFS and help them get bigger. I have a one and two gallon that I use to start with, and a 20 gallon for pre-started so they'll be bigger when I move them to big tanks. That will at least give you some good live cover for when you set up your tank...you can even start the plants in a 5 gallon bucket and put it in front of a window. I've yet to have any plants with problems or transplants to new homes.

 

I have several FW planted tanks, I consider it kind of like a freshwater reef tank. I always keep a large number of various shrimp, clams and snails, there are even a few species of freshwater sponge from the rift lakes but I have only ever seen them for sell once. There are even a few marine inverts that will live in freshwater with slow acclimation, peppermint shrimp for instance. Crystal shrimp are one of my favorites, but they will only reproduce in saltwater but are generally offered for sale as a FW algae eating shrimp. THey are small but fantastic looking shrimp. I keep fish in with my shrimp, clams, etc...

 

All right it has been awhile.

I'm almost done with my "other project" before I start this tank and I'm getting a bit more serious with my research.

As far as freshwater crustaceans go is there a website I can go that has some sort of compatibility matrix?

I have yet to decide on the exact crustaceans I want to go with.

I'm looking at doing a tiered FW crustacean tank.

top half would be planted and the bottom half sandy with rocks/wood.

 

So what all are you thinking, compatibility wise?


Crustaceans and fish? Turtles, frogs, crawfish, lobster, crab, fish? Etc. Or just crustacean compatibility?



One thing to consider, the livestock won't really care what kind of lights you use. If you do planted for any of it, you'll need specific types of lights to support the plants.

Here is a compatibility chart I found, but it just deals with dwarf shrimp.

Dwarf Shrimp Compatibility Chart - Freshwater Shrimp - TheShrimpFarm.com


A good site on various fresh water crusti's

Shrimps, Crayfish, Prawns in Freshwater Aquariums

 

Thanks brother!

That's a big step in the right direction...

It seems very overwhelming.

I'm half tempted to just go buy an aquarium throw some tap water in it and start throwing stuff in it and see if anything dies.




Mostly concerned with crustacean compatibility mostly.

i want a freshwater crab(s) (which are hard to find evidently) and a blue lobster (crawfish)

Those super tiny shrimp we saw the other day (directed at peredhil) would be neat too.

all the while have a few fish in there as well.